"I'm not against endorsing fairness creams," says PV Sindhu

It’s been over a month since PV Sindhu returned from Rio with India’s first Olympic silver medal in Women’s Singles Badminton. Despite numerous felicitations, ribbon-cuttings, dinners, and lunches that have changed the course of her life, one thing that hasn’t changed much is her training schedule. Even when the whole country may have been talking about her alleged Rs 50 crore deal with sports marketing company Baseline, our 21-year-old Hyderabad born-and-bred shuttler was busy with practice sessions at her coach Pullela Gopichand’s Academy. The figures defining the second phase of her fame could be inflated, we hear, by as much as 100% - but even Rs 25 crore is a strong number by any yardstick, especially for a celeb who doesn’t belong to either of the two quasi-religions of India: Bollywood and Cricket.

Does Sindhu care either way? Doesn’t seem like it. “I never thought about being on TV while growing up,” she tells us. “I used to read up on Olympics. That was my dream. That dream of standing on the podium, seeing India’s waving flag, finally came true.” Brand endorsement offers: she sees them as a good sign. A sign that she has made her country proud and that she’s being recognised for it. “It’s interesting,” that’s all she has to say on the matter.

She hasn’t studied what other sport celebrities have been up to in their journey of making a brand out of themselves. She hasn’t taken any tips from them on how to manage training along with commercial engagements. She wasn’t even aware of the constitutional bill that now makes celebrities liable for claims made by brands they endorse. When it comes to advertisements, Sindhu is still more of a consumer than an endorser. “I’ve been watching ads featuring all the key sport stars. They’re all good normally. I just watch and forget.”

Baseline is managing all things branding for her, she admits. “Sindhu is new to this. It’s our duty to educate her on brands,” says Ramakrishnan R (Ram), co-founder and director at Baseline Ventures. “That Rs 50 crore figure didn’t come from us. Maybe the writer was referring to her potential. We are sane enough not to quote such a figure. That said, if Sindhu continues to perform the way she is right now, and maintains the great persona she has, she will be right up there among the top athletes of our country,” he adds.

Baseline is in final talks with nine of the 16 companies, eager to sign Sindhu as brand endorser post Rio. These largely include financial institutions and women-centric brands. While Ram is not at liberty to divulge names, he tells us a little something about one of the BFSI brands. “It’s a reputed brand (of course). This is the second time the brand is getting a sport celebrity endorser, after a long hiatus.”

The association gives Sindhu the cushion of financial planning and wealth management, he feels. Not to mention, the category is high on media spends, which ensures more visibility for our shuttler.

Women-centric brands are a no-brainer. For someone who chose badminton over her parents’ professional sport (volleyball), she has a strong mind of her own, which makes her a good fit for the said category. “I don’t even like volleyball,” she quips. No wonder content sites are already speculating who will play Sindhu’s role in her biopic. “I don’t have anyone in mind, haven’t thought about this. But it should be a good choice,” she states.

Sindhu hasn’t gone fully into the endorsing mode yet. She isn’t nervous though, she clarifies. “I want to watch myself doing those things now, and see how it’ll all look.” Sindhu breaks any stereotypes you may have of sportswomen not being particular about their appearance. Her style game, as attested by the Twitterati at several occasions, is quite on point. “I like shopping and I like dressing up,” she says. “I know I’m in the limelight right now - all eyes are on me. I’m working hard on my game every day. I go out once in a while. It feels nice to get ready for special occasions.”

Since she is going to be endorsing women-centric brands, we ask her about the two disparate women-themed narratives running parallel in advertising these days: One that directly propagates stereotypical beauty; the other that manipulates female insecurities in a nicer manner - so women feel a false-sense of empowerment and not embarrassment in the process.

“I think whatever you have is beautiful,” she says. “People are not going to like you for being fair or not, but for who you are as a person.” Is that indirectly a big ‘No’ to endorsing anyone from the fairness creams family, we ask. She laughs, and promptly replies, “I don’t know! If it comes, I can’t say right now whether I will or won’t. I am not against it. I think each one of us has a different mindset. I may think everything is beautiful the way it is. For someone else, maybe being fair is beautiful. I’m not against that perception of theirs.” And she won’t mind catering to that perception too. “But it all depends on what kind of brands come forward. We will have to make a decision accordingly.”

That’s the level of candour you can expect from the most popular representative of the GenZ of sport celebs. She knows her game, her strengths and her limitations. Spain’s Carolina Marin who won the final against her at Rio, has lost matches against Sindhu in the past. “But that day was her day,” she says, referring to the Olympic finals, “whereas my smashes were going out.” Sindhu’s also used to fame, and the lull between that fame and the next big game. “I know I have created history so everyone’s congratulating me right now. Soon, it’s going to be over and I’ll be back to my training sessions like I was after winning the World Championship.” All that’s left is for her to learn the ropes of the branding business, perhaps. But then, that is a different shuttlegame anyway.